There is confusion as the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has announced the suspension of the office of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as well as the position of the director of Radio Biafra.
The decision followed a full-house meeting of the IPOB Directorate held on Wednesday, during which the leadership reviewed intelligence reports relating to communications allegedly originating from Kanu while in detention at Sokoto prison.
In a statement issued on Thursday and signed by Mazi Chikadibia Edoziem, Head of the Directorate of State (DOS), the group said the DOS would henceforth administer the affairs of the organization and oversee its activities.
The leadership stressed that IPOB was “formed and nurtured by a group of Biafrans in the diaspora (not by any single individual)” and maintained that no single person possesses the authority to dissolve the Directorate of State, which it described as the organization’s highest leadership structure.
According to the statement, the decision was taken after the leadership became “mindful that certain unguarded communications from Sokoto prison to those in Biafraland have caused unnecessary arrests and death of IPOB family members in Biafraland.”
The group also noted that Kanu’s visitors and activities were under close surveillance by the Department of State Services (DSS). It further expressed concern over an alleged plan by some individuals to establish a new militia, warning that such a move could spark another wave of violence in the region.
IPOB said the suspension was necessary to “prevent unchecked actions, reckless assumption of authority and unguarded utterances from resulting in the reckless arrests, torture and needless death of Biafran youths.”
The statement added that criminal acts carried out in the name of the suspended office would no longer be attributed to the organization, declaring that “IPOB shall henceforth not be held accountable for actions of individuals or groups of individuals not holding any active position within IPOB.”
The development comes a day after reports emerged that Kanu had dissolved the third administration of the Directorate of State.
Acting under his claimed authority, Kanu was reported to have inaugurated a fourth administration of the DOS and appointed United States-based Mazi Chris Nwaọgụ as the new Head of the Directorate of State.
A statement issued by IPOB spokesperson Emma Powerful said Nwaọgụ was mandated to immediately assume responsibility for the administration, coordination, and day-to-day management of the organization’s affairs under Kanu’s direct authority.
The Directorate of State was established by Kanu in 2012 as the administrative arm of IPOB. It has previously been headed by Dr. Justin Akujieze in the United States, Mazi Uchenna Asiegbu in Spain, and Chika Edoziem in Switzerland, who was appointed to lead the third administration in March 2017 during Kanu’s earlier detention at Kuje Prison.
Nnamdi Kanu’s comes barely months after he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Nigerian government.
